Big Screen Little Screen

Roger Ebert sez, “I am violating the age-old custom that film critics announce the year’s 10 best films, but after years of such lists, I’ve had it. A best films list should be a celebration of wonderful films, not a chopping process. And 2008 was a great year for movies, even if many of them didn’t receive wide distribution… These 20 stood out for me, and I treasure them all. If it had been 19 or 21, that would have been OK. If you must have a Top 10 List, find a coin in your pocket. Heads, the odd-numbered movies are your 10. Tails, the even-numbered.”

His top 20, in alphabetical order: Ballast, The Band’s Visit, Che, Chop Shop, The Dark Knight, Doubt, The Fall, Frost/Nixon, Frozen River, Happy-Go-Lucky, Iron Man, Milk, Rachel Getting Married, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Shotgun Stories, Slumdog Millionaire, Synecdoche New York, W., and Wall*E

Another favorite is Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg, plus five documentaries he ranks “in equal first place”: Encounters at the End of the World, I.O.U.S.A., Man on Wire, Standard Operating Procedure, and Trouble the Water

The best films of 2008… and there were a lot of them - RogerEbert.com